Tuesday, 24 May 2016

LMS - A Supporting Pillar For Different Business Functions

In recent years, many organizations have made switch to LMS as an e-learning software for their employee training programs. But, the use of LMS can be extended far beyond the scope of just delivering learning. An learning management system with proper business capabilities and effective use can support different business functions and wrestle more challenges than one might think.

Here are few tips to scrutinize how a good LMS can support different business functions:

Use of LMS for enterprise-wide projects- Smart and innovative organizations are now thinking out of the box and using LMS to its full potential for their critical business projects like launching new products and services, new business process etc. Being a long term investment it has become necessary to implement learning management system strategically for big projects and not for the one’s associated with just learning and development. This can help companies save additional spend and improve their effectiveness.

Use of LMS for removing communication barrier- A good learning management system expedites communication across learning associates, the organization as a whole as well as clients, suppliers or channel partners.

For any project to be a success, it is important to communicate with internal staff across the organization. LMS removes the administrative burden of keeping everyone up to date about the timelines and activities within the project and can create automated email and templates to be sent during the project. The built-in tracking and reporting functionality of an LMS helps the organization to track whether people have read their communications and provide tangible results to the board both during and at the end of the project. Features such as message board, chat rooms, blogs etc. can be used by the staff to express their views and opinions to the management which makes the communication two ways.

Interactions with outside world can also be facilitated effectively with the help of same features like automated emails, tracking system etc. if you have good e-learning software.

Use of LMS for improved learning- learning management system can increase the access to learning and information if you have a good internet connection. Learners can have access to study resources and business information at any time and any place be it a home, workplace or any other spot. This flexibility helps the organization to cater to all the staff regardless of their job role and timings. There can be multiple learning resources like PDFs, videos, webinars or any other source which increases the quality of information you need to share with the learners.

Use of LMS for achieving organization’s goals and targets- learning management system can be used to add maximum value to the performance of an organization as a whole. learning management system built in competency tools can be used to analyze the key proficiencies of different job roles and targeting learning interventions for employees depending on their roles and skills. It can also perform competency based assessments and identify competency experts for knowledge sharing and mentoring. This enhances employee engagement and retention.

Organizations can use LMS in a creative and effective way to achieve their business goals because learning management system is not just a tool for learning but also an important asset to improve business performance as a whole.